We’re less than a month away from the theatrical release of The Super Mario Bros. movieand this week the cast appeared on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon to promote the upcoming movie in a unique and nostalgic way: by playing the theme song of Super Mario Bros. to sing. They were accompanied by host Fallon, plus music group (and Fallon’s house band) The Roots.
If, like me, you were confused about how a group of people should sing the Mario theme song – which has no lyrics at all – think of the video as an early 2010s a cappella arrangement on YouTube. Like every Pentatonix video it’s worth its salt, the arrangement includes several actors performing different segments of the tune, complete with beatboxing.
Fun animations are interspersed throughout the segment. Charlie Day, Keegan-Michael Key and Jimmy Fallon, among others, jump in and out of Warp Pipes, alongside pixelated Piranha Plants. Jack Black does a very compelling scatting. The cast, each shown in their own colorful rectangular background, sing segments while swinging a small Koopa shell from side to side. Even Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri are in on the fun (although Miyamoto gets the final notes)!
It’s a reminder of an earlier era of YouTube where things were simpler and a cappella was king. Think of it as the Nick Pitera”One Man Disney moviestyle medley YouTube video, except it’s the cast of The Super Mario Bros. movie humming one of the most famous video game themes of all time.
The Super Mario Bros. movie premieres in theaters on April 5.